TWO neighbours came before Jupiter and prayed him to grant their hearts’ desire. Now the one was full of avarice, and the other eaten up with envy. So to punish them both, Jupiter granted that each might have whatever he wished for himself, but only on condition that his neighbour had twice as much. The Avaricious man prayed to have a room full of gold. No sooner said than done; but all his joy was turned to grief when he found that his neighbour had two rooms full of the precious metal. Then came the turn of the Envious man, who could not bear to think that his neighbour had any joy at all. So he prayed that he might have one of his own eyes put out, by which means his companion would become totally blind. “VICES ARE THEIR OWN PUNISHMENT.”

Five years ago today, Colin Powell decided to spend all of his credibility to sell George Bush's War. The war John McLovin' wants to last 100 years. A war that costs us more than $100 billion every year (and probably about $2 trillion so far) -- and will cost thousands more dead this year.

To paraphrase a saying that was current during Powell's days in Vietnam, what we have now is a giant shit sandwich, and those responsible ought to have to take the biggest bites.

I have to say I'd rather pay to attend the messy party and spoil my new frock than put money in the church basket, but having worked for non profits I do see that money always gets spent on these parties. One non profit in the area spent about 300 thousand on a gala fundraising dinner dance: I was stunned by the excess of it all, (my being there was sponsored by a large corporation since I represented another non profit org) but it turned out alright as they raised over 4 million. So it's all in who you invite and how deep the pockets are.

Just hearing Steve Allen on the piano reminded me of this from his show in 1959. I have an old copy of it on 3/4 video tape, so I never get to watch it anymore, but this post reminded me to look for it on youtube. Thanks for that!

Great story about fundraising, coffee. You have a wealth of obscure literary gems.

squirrel: I'm sorry I don't have that kind of money. Raising and giving to a worthwhile cause that helps those in need, in which there are too many, would be a great way to satisfy ones life and distribution of money. And yes, a very nice fable indeed.

robin: That's a great clip. And I do have the box set of K's material.